The sure sign comes when the boss, fingers on chin, draws a portentous breath and says, “I’m going with my gut on this one.” Then, lest anyone doubt the higher authority of the lower extremity, the boss adds, “And my gut” — pause for dramatic effect — “is never wrong.”

Or, equally bad, somebody convenes a focus group and believes what comes out of it. Now instead of one gut leading you astray, you have a chorus of ten.

From 30-plus years of creating and tracking marketing campaigns, Steve Cuno can tell you with assurance that no one’s intuition is never wrong. Sure, stories abound of marketers who followed intuition to fortune and glory. But for every Steve Jobs whose intuition damned the torpedos and built Apple Corporation — twice — there are oodles more marketers who championed and brought to market the likes of Bic brand disposable underwear, Colgate brand frozen dinners, and Cosmopolitan magazine brand yogurt. Ever heard of them? That’s odd. After all, someone’s intuition and a whole bunch of focus groups predicted those products would be overwhelmingly successful.

Join Steve on the Business Fuel Podcast tomorrow and learn why testing rules and focus groups often fail.

About the Author

Ty Kiisel

Small business evangelist and veteran of over 30 years in the trenches of Main Street business, Ty makes small business financing and trends accessible in common sense language devoid of the jargon. Ty writes about small business financing and other best practices for Lendio, in addition to sharing his passion for small business every week on Forbes.com. He's also the author of the book, Getting a Business Loan: Financing Your Main Street Business.